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When in 1880, after centuries of construction, the Cologne Cathedral was finally completed, then for the next four years it remained the tallest building in the world. The construction of the third largest Gothic church in the world dragged on for an incredible six-plus centuries. And if we take into account that after the Second World War the temple had to be restored and restoration work has been going on unceasingly since then, then the second such long-term construction, perhaps, cannot be found ...

On the left on the 1922 banknote is the architect, on the right is the devil himself.

Few people know that along with the first black and white images of this structure on postcards, its outlines also appeared on money. For example, on the German inflation banknote of 500 thousand marks in 1923, a view of the Cologne Cathedral is shown.

Cathedral in exchange for a soul

There were many problems with the construction of the temple. Often work stopped due to lack of money. And they needed a lot. Until about 1530, the financial problems were more or less poor, but they coped. But from 1530, the surprising apathy of the authorities began to mix with the shortage of funds. In the end, people lost interest in the cathedral and the desire to complete it completely. From then until the middle of the XIX century, he stood "in the woods." All this is confirmed by historical documents. But the legends that have come down to us explain this unfinished construction in their own way. And blame the devil for everything...

According to the legends, it was the devil who put a curse on the Cologne Cathedral. There is even a belief that work on it will never stop. For if this happens, the Apocalypse will immediately come ...

In 1164, the Archbishop of Cologne, Rainald von Dassel, smuggled the relics of the three Magi from Milan to Cologne. After magnificent celebrations in their honor, the city turned into a place of mass pilgrimage for Christians. It was then that the idea was born to build a new one on the site of the old dilapidated cathedral.

They began to look for an architect who would take on such a grandiose and very responsible enterprise. The choice fell on Gerhard von Riehl, who studied his craft in France. The city authorities gave him exactly one year to develop the drawings. But, despite the enviable diligence, the master could not manage to bring his brilliant ideas to paper. Each time he had already brought the drawing to its logical conclusion, some mistake was discovered that threatened to nullify all his efforts. And then one day, walking thoughtfully along the banks of the Rhine, he stopped at a huge stone, which popular rumor dubbed the devil. Suddenly, out of nowhere, a stranger appeared in front of him, dressed in the fashion of French builders. The stranger began to quickly draw something with a cane (in another version, a sword) in the dust at the very feet of Gerhard. When the master took a closer look, he was seriously surprised - on the ground in front of him was the completed plan of the new cathedral. The architect asked the stranger what he would like for his drawing. To which the stranger, and it was none other than the master of the underworld himself, replied: “Your soul! And if you also promise me the souls of your wife and child, I myself will build a new church in three years. If I fail, then you will continue to enjoy life in the human world. But if the cathedral is ready with the first roosters announcing the beginning of the first day in the fourth year, you and your family are mine!

This scene was captured on the Cologne notgeld in 50 pfennig 1922. On the left, with drawings in hand, a short-sighted architect. On the right is the devil.

Under the crowing of a rooster

Master Gerhard decided that it would be beyond the power of even the devil to build such a grandiose structure in such a short time. And therefore, with a light hand, he agreed to a devilish bet. Satan and his brethren worked worse than the Stakhanovites. And every day the walls of God's temple became higher and higher. But the barometer of Gerhard von Riehl's mood fell lower and lower. This did not escape the attentive eyes of his wife, and one day she nevertheless asked him what prevented him from enjoying life. And when I found out about the terms of the deal, I was first scared, and then thoughtful.

One fine day, the architect's wife went to the market with her son. There the boy drew her attention to a stately capon who, to the amusement of the crowd, crowed at the top of his lungs. And when the kid began to mimic the rooster, a saving idea suddenly dawned on the woman. Now she knew how to outsmart the soul-buyer. Since then, the master's wife practiced daily in imitation of the vociferous bird. And as soon as the neighbor's roosters began to respond to her crowing, she regained her peace of mind.

Meanwhile, the construction of the Cologne Cathedral was nearing completion. And then came the day of reckoning. That morning, the woman got up very early and went to the construction site. The demons were just setting the domes of the towers. It was then that Gerhard's wife demonstrated her skill in imitation. She crowed so skillfully that real roosters began to respond to her cries from all over Cologne. The devil did not suspect a dirty trick, but, uttering a wild cry, began to destroy the newly rebuilt church. But, as they say, a deal is more valuable than money. And the ruler of darkness had to get out with nothing. And the cathedral remained unfinished...

Master's Ghost

And what about Master Gerhard!? Unfortunately, this story has a sad ending. After some time, Satan again appeared before the architect. And he argued with him that he would quickly lead water from the Eifel (a region in western Germany) to Cologne through an underground canal than he would complete his church. The master immediately agreed, because he knew something that the devil could not possibly know. Namely, that if special vents are not made throughout the entire underground channel, then there will be problems with traction and water will not flow through the pipe. He hastened to tell his wife about this in order to enlist her moral support.

But if in the case of the first bet the woman helped her husband, then this time the cunning demon managed to find out the secret of traction from her, and he led the water through an underground channel. They say that master Gerhard was on the roof of an unfinished tower when he saw a devilish spring gushing from the ground below. Realizing what this threatened him with, he rushed down to save his soul. But he didn't. Turning into a hellish dog, Satan jumped after him. And before the architect reached the ground, the devil grabbed him and dragged him to the underworld.

In one saga of the Cologne Cathedral, it is said that no one could complete the construction of the Gothic temple because the ghost of the unfortunate builder prevented this. He suddenly appeared on the scaffolding and frightened the workers, and even pushed down the most stubborn ones. Rumor has it that the ghost of master Gerhard for hundreds of years after his death wandered around the church at night, guarding his unfinished creation ...

Continuing the legend section. There is no limit to the fantasies of our people, some stories and fictions go deep into the people, and legends begin to form around a popular place. In this section, I will talk about the most interesting ones, question them, refute something. Let's bring a share of mysticism into gray everyday life. Today we'll talk about Saint Isaac's Cathedral.

The legend of the fall of the Romanov dynasty.

The legend is similar to the Savior on Spilled Blood, and is also associated with forests. But here the roots go deeper than in the collapse of the Soviet Union. The construction of St. Isaac's Cathedral was completed in 1858, but the monumental building, even after the official opening, was constantly in need of repair, completion, and the close attention of the craftsmen, which is why the scaffolding stood unassembled. For fifty years, Petersburgers have become so accustomed to them that a legend was born about their connection with the royal family. It was believed that while the forests were standing, the Romanov dynasty also ruled. Permanent repairs required huge costs, and the funds were allocated by the royal treasury. In fact, scaffolding from St. Isaac's Cathedral was first removed in 1916, shortly before the abdication of the Russian throne by Emperor Nicholas II in March 1917.

By the way, there is an opinion that the angels on the facades St. Isaac's Cathedral- faces of members of the imperial family.

Here is such a beautiful legend and the second coincidence with history. Two of the most beautiful cathedrals in the city and two similar legends. So I want to believe in them.

Temple legend for sale

In the 1930s, there was a rumor that the Americans, admiring the beauty of St. Isaac's Cathedral, which somehow reminded them of the Capitol, offered the Soviet government to buy it. According to legend, the temple was to be dismantled and transported in parts by ships to the United States, where it was to be reassembled. As a payment for a priceless architectural object, the Americans allegedly offered to pave all the cobblestone pavements of Leningrad.

As we can see, St. Isaac's Cathedral stands in its place, so the deal fell through. In general, there were reasons for the appearance of this legend. As you know, in the 1930s, against the backdrop of industrialization and collectivization, the country was seized by a terrible famine, which claimed, according to various estimates, from 2 to 8 million people. While the peasants were dying of hunger, the export of bread increased. According to rumors, museum valuables were also sold abroad - paintings, icons, antiques. Such prerequisites gave rise to rumors about the sale of the cathedral. Like, in this way the Americans want to take advantage of the difficult situation of the Soviet Union.

The legend of the missing piles

The temple is still called not only an artistic, but also an engineering masterpiece. To place such a heavy building on a shaky, swampy place seemed impossible. More than 10,000 piles had to be driven into the foundation for the construction. In the end, the townspeople began to joke about this - they say, they somehow hammered a pile, and it completely went underground. They scored the second - and not a trace of it. Third, fourth, and so on, until a letter arrived from New York: “You ruined our pavement! At the end of a log sticking out of the ground, the stamp of the St. Petersburg timber exchange "Gromov and K!"

As you understand, we did not spoil any pavements in New York. But the legend is playful and beautiful.

The legend of the sunken cathedral

The incredible heaviness of the cathedral struck the imagination of contemporaries no less than it strikes us today. Saint Isaac's Cathedral- the heaviest building in St. Petersburg. Many times he was predicted to collapse, but in spite of everything, he still holds on. One of the urban legends says that the famous prankster Alexander Zhemchuzhnikov, one night, changed into the uniform of an aide-de-camp and traveled around all the leading architects of the capital with the order "to come to the palace in the morning because he failed Saint Isaac's Cathedral". It is easy to imagine the panic this announcement caused.

However, the legend that Saint Isaac's Cathedral gradually and imperceptibly settles under the weight of its own weight, is still alive.

The Legend of the Architect

The temple was built incredibly long, despite the objective reasons. Residents already then joked that to see the built Isaakievsky not even their grandchildren will succeed. There is an interesting explanation for this long-term construction. They say that at that time there were rumors about the existence of some seer who allegedly predicted Montferrand that he would die immediately after he completed the construction Saint Isaac's Cathedral.

It is difficult to judge how accurate the prediction was, but the architect really died almost immediately after the temple was consecrated. The reason for the sharp deterioration in health was supposedly a dismissive attitude on the part of the new sovereign - Alexander II. Whether he made a remark to Montferrand for wearing a "military" mustache. Perhaps the autocrat didn’t like the architect’s original autograph: in the design of the cathedral there is a group of saints who greet Isaac of Dalmatia with a humble head tilt, among them is Montferrand himself. The architect, who was expecting well-deserved praise, who devoted almost his entire life to the cathedral, fell into despondency and "struck by the emperor's hostile attitude towards him, felt bad" and died 27 days later.

By the way, Montferrand bequeathed to be buried in Isaac but his wish was not granted. The coffin with the body of the architect was carried around the temple and the widow took him to Paris.

Author - valniko77 . This is a quote from this post.

Notre Dame Cathedral - Gothic legend (Notre Dame de Paris)

Notre Dame Cathedral - Gothic legend (Notre Dame de Paris)

“Il est venu le temps des cathédrales”… the song from the musical “Notre-Dame de Paris”, which has become so popular, brought glory not only to the performers, but also aroused the interest of the whole world in the novel by Victor Hugo, and in the most grandiose cathedral in France, Notre Dame Cathedral.

The cathedral, sung by Victor Hugo in his novel of the same name, is considered the main spiritual center of Paris, and many call it the "heart" of the city. Rising above Paris, the cathedral attracts not only with its splendor, but also with numerous secrets. Legends are made up about the secrets of Notre Dame Cathedral. ">

In the 4th century, the Church of St. Sebastian was located on the site of the current Notre Dame, and not far from it was the Church of the Mother of God. However, in the XII century. Both of these buildings fell into a deplorable state, and the Parisian bishop Maurice de Sully decided to build a new cathedral in their place, which, according to his plan, was to surpass all the cathedrals in the world in grandeur.

The construction of Notre Dame Cathedral lasted almost two centuries. More than a dozen famous architects worked on its appearance, but the greatest contribution to the creation of so many-sided cathedral was made by Jean de Chelle and Pierre de Montreuil.

The length of the cathedral is 130 meters, the height of the towers is 69 meters, and the capacity is about 9,000 people.

Notre Dame Cathedral was built on the ruins of a Roman temple dedicated to Jupiter. The first stone of the basilica was laid by Pope Alexander III in 1163.

Many different architects took part in the construction, which is evidenced by the different style and height of the western facade and towers.

The construction of the towers was completed in 1245, and the entire cathedral in 1345. The gigantic dimensions of the cathedral knew no equal until the middle of the 13th century, when the construction of cathedrals in Reims and Amiens began.

Le Corbusier spoke of the western façade of Notre Dame Cathedral as a "pure creation of the spirit". Indeed, the two geometric figures present here - a circle and a square, symbolize, respectively, the infinity of God and the limitations of the space created by him. Their coexistence in the lines of the facade shows how the world of God invades the world created through the sacraments of the Incarnation and the Nativity of Christ.

Under the balustrade stretches the "gallery of kings", 28 statues of which represent 28 generations of Jewish kings - the ancestors of Jesus and Mary.

The western facade of Notre Dame has three entrances, their lancet portals are decorated with sculptural panels depicting various episodes of the Gospel. Here the essence of Christianity is briefly and expressively told and embodied.

In the photo - the central portal, known as the "Doomsday Portal". The entrance arches support seven statues on each side. Down in the center on the lintel are depicted the dead, risen from the graves, awakened by two angels with trumpets. Above them is a scene of the weighing of the souls of the dead by the Archangel Michael. According to this, the elect are led to Paradise (on the right hand of Christ), and the damned are led by the devil to hell, to the left. Further up, on the tympanum, Christ the Judge and angels are depicted. The curves of the vault are occupied by images of angels, patriarchs, prophets, martyrs and virgins.

The northern "Portal of the Mother of God" tells about the Assumption of the Virgin Mary, her ascension to Paradise and coronation as the Queen of Heaven.

The facades of Notre Dame Cathedral are richly decorated with sculptures. They are among the finest sculptures of the Middle Ages. The sculptures tell us the story from the Fall to the Last Judgment.

Spire of the Cathedral, at the base of the statue of the Apostles.

Equestrian sculpture of Charlemagne in front of the facade

Behind the Cathedral of the Cathedral Fountain of the Virgin

The decoration of the cathedral is dominated by gray, the color of the stone from which the walls are built. The cathedral has very few windows and is rather dark and gloomy. The stained-glass windows serve as the only source of light, but the light penetrating through the numerous stained-glass windows fills the temple with various shades.

In addition to candles, the cathedral is additionally illuminated with bronze chandeliers, but the light is still not enough, and it takes some time for the eyes to get used to the twilight that reigns inside. This play of light gives the cathedral a special enchanting beauty and a certain mystery.

The majestic interior of the cathedral, its incredible size of the naves and transept amaze everyone who enters! North Dame served as a place for the coronations of French monarchs and the blessing of the crusaders. And on August 18, 1572, it was here that the marriage of Henry of Navarre (the future King Henry IV) and Margaret of Valois, familiar to us from the famous novel by Dumas "Queen Margot", took place.

The massiveness of the columns on which the lancet vaults of the naves rest is facilitated by carved capitals. The ornament with which they are decorated resembles the foliage of trees and serves as a reminder of the Garden of Eden.

Standing with your back to the entrance, you can at a glance capture the central nave, the main altar in the center with the statue of the Sorrowful Mother of God, as well as the intersection of the central nave and the transept of the cathedral - the crossroads, especially illuminated and marked with the image of the Virgin Mary.

First, feeling a delicate aroma that cannot be confused with anything, and then - seeing a huge bouquet of royal lilies that exudes it, you can see the image of the Virgin Mary towering in the depths of the temple - Notre Dame proper. This work of the XIV century was placed in the cathedral only in 1818 to replace the statue of the XIII century, destroyed during the French Revolution. Placed on its historical site, this Virgin Mary is one of 37 images of the Mother of God in the cathedral dedicated to her.

The gloominess of the lancet vaults of Notre Dame is brightened up by bright stained-glass windows that adorn not only the huge rose windows of the northern and southern portals, but also the many windows located under the very stream.

It is thanks to these amazingly clear and rich color pictures that the temple ceases to crush and fetter with its size, the stained-glass windows give "humanity" to the interior, and the meager illumination of the cathedral is reborn into a mysterious twilight. In front of these bright spots, you involuntarily stop and look at the images, trying to remember or recognize this or that biblical story that the stained glass illustrates.

Of course, rose windows also make a huge impression. Pictured here is the north rosette, made around 1250, the one that retains most of the original glass. In the center is the Virgin Mary, carrying the baby Jesus in her womb, surrounded by characters from the Old Testament. Both sockets with a diameter of 13 m are considered masterpieces of Christian art.

As in most Catholic cathedrals (unlike Orthodox ones), Notre Dame Cathedral has a double gallery surrounding the choirs and the main altar. She hides along the altar barrier - a high partition separating the choir from the nave, which allowed the priests to pray in peace and solitude, protecting themselves from the noisy flock.

From the side of the gallery, the altar barrier is decorated with polychrome bas-reliefs, which, however, have survived only partially in their original form. Here in the photo is a bas-relief on which you can recognize Christ and his disciples.

The cathedral houses one of the greatest relics of Christianity - the Crown of Thorns of Jesus Christ. He made his way from Jerusalem to Constantinople. Until 1063 it was kept in Jerusalem, in 1063 it was moved to Constantinople. Then the Crusader soldiers captured Byzantium.

Byzantium was in a plundered state, local princes needed money, and Bedouin II began to sell relics. So the crown of thorns was redeemed by Louis IX.

In 1239 the Crown of Thorns was brought to Paris. By order of Louis, he was placed in a specially built chapel, where he stayed until the French Revolution. During the era of the revolution, the chapel was destroyed, but the crown was saved, and in 1809 it was placed in the Notre Dame Cathedral, where it remains to this day.

Along with the Crown of Thorns, the cathedral also houses a nail from the cross on which Jesus Christ was crucified. Another nail can be seen in the cathedral city of Carpentras. Two more nails are in Italy.

Since ancient times, nails have been a dispute among historians, how many were there three or four? But the answer to this question has not been found to date.

Notre Dame is full of legends. One of these legends is associated with the gate in front of the entrance to the cathedral. They are so magnificent that it is hard to believe that a man could have created them. Legend has it that their author was a blacksmith named Biscornet, who, commissioned by a canon of Notre Dame, agreed to forge a gate worthy of the greatness of the cathedral. Biskorn was afraid not to justify the trust of the canon, and he decided to turn to the devil for help, promising to give his soul for an excellent job.

The gates for the cathedral were a real masterpiece, openwork weaves combined with figured locks. But the trouble is, even the blacksmith could not open the locks on the gates, they did not succumb to anyone, only after sprinkling with holy water they succumbed. Biskorn could not explain what was happening, he was speechless, and a few days later he died of an unknown illness. And he took one of the secrets of Notre Dame Cathedral with him to the grave.

But the most exciting and memorable event when visiting the cathedral was for me a walk through the gallery of chimeras!

Looking from the outside at the walls of the cathedral from the bottom up, you can see with the naked eye monsters, bats, vampires and mythical creatures, which seem to jump out of the stone and crawl out .... In fact, this is nothing more than the ends of beams and ceilings covered with the muzzles of monsters. It seems completely unthinkable and incompatible this combination of images of demons with the very building of a Christian church. However, according to Christian iconography, everything here is logical and natural. In the Middle Ages, people believed that like scares away like, and accordingly, in order to turn away evil spirits and the Unclean One itself from the temple, it is necessary to depict this same evil spirits on the temple itself. This is how these strange creatures "settled" here. And either they are guarding the temple, or they are fleeing from it, seized with horror .....

But why do they “decorate” the building of the temple? Are they just a decorative element, or are they endowed with some kind of mystical ability?

Chimeras have long been considered the silent guardians of the cathedral. It was believed that at night the chimeras come to life and bypass their possessions, carefully guarding the peace of the building. In fact, according to the intention of the creators of the cathedral, chimeras personify the human character and variety of moods: from melancholy to anger, from smiles to tears. Chimeras are so "humanized" that they began to seem like living beings. And there is a legend that if you look at them in the twilight for a very long time, they “come to life”. And if you take a picture next to the chimera, then in the photo the person seems to be a stone statue.

At the corners of each of the bell towers, statues of chimeras and gargoyles are installed - an intricate invention of the architect Viollet-le-Duc, who from 1841 led the restoration work at Notre Dame, and wished to decorate the building in this way, and at the same time arouse interest and draw public attention to it.

This is the most famous of the chimeras, it can be seen immediately at the entrance to the gallery. As if in thought, she contemplates the life of the ever-changing capital from above... I confess, I partly came to the gallery for the sake of this shot, because I had already seen such an image many times, but, of course, I wanted to verify the existence of such a character myself.

All these incredible monsters, hybrid animals and fantastic birds perched on the ledges of the bell towers and "guard" the ancient building... holiness and vice exist here independently and in parallel from each other - the sacred abode of Christianity, and evil spirits on its bell towers .... And yet - all this forms a single building of the temple, an architectural complex, which, perhaps, is most suitable epithet "frozen music".

But the gargoyles of Notre Dame settled here already in the Middle Ages. Yes, gargoyles and chimeras are not the same thing. Gargoyles are inferior in popularity to their "little sisters". And it is believed that the most beautiful gargoyles are at the level of the flying buttresses of the choir. If chimeras are a decorative element of the cathedral, then the gargoyles had a completely different purpose.

From French, gargouille is translated as a gutter or drainpipe. Thus, the monsters are nothing more than drainpipes that divert rainwater from the roof and walls of the cathedral.

Notre Dame Cathedral is so diverse and many-sided that it attracts a huge number of tourists every year. Every Sunday you can attend a Catholic mass, and hear the largest organ in France, hear the unusual sound of a six-ton ​​bell (it was this bell that Quasimodo had a special love for)

The views of Paris from the height of the cathedral are amazing! The whole city can be covered with one glance. In the east - the Seine and the modern part of the city ...

And in the west - its historical part. On the Ile de la Cité, the Sainte-Chapelle and the Palace of Justice are visible, and further on - the Louvre, the La Defense district and the Eiffel Tower.

Having been in the gallery of chimeras for 5-10 minutes, you don’t know where to look: either at the gargoyles, or at Paris, or at the cathedral that has become incredibly close, at those corners that are not visible from there, from below, and to which here - at hand!

For example - up to a 90 m high spire, designed by the same Viollet-le-Duc instead of a small spire that was destroyed during the Revolution ...

Or to the angel proclaiming the Last Day of the World...

Or to bloodthirsty monsters devouring their victims...

"Emmanuel" weighs more than 13 tons, and its tongue is about 500 kg. The bell rings only on the most solemn days - on major Catholic holidays.

There is a certain unusual harmony and harmony in the whole appearance of this particular temple. Bulky and monolithic - at first glance, and unusual lightness and airiness - if you look closely, or go around and examine it from all sides.
This square behind the cathedral is one of the most secluded and cozy corners in the city. Quite close by are crowded boulevards, river bus piers, metro stations, noisy squares, crowds of restless three hundred, attacking the cathedral itself, and other sights of the Cite Island ... And it's quiet here. Water in the fountain murmurs softly, flower beds are fragrant, passers-by are resting in the shade of trees .... And the cathedral itself is the logical dominant of this place, where the eyes of everyone who is here are fixed. arched buttresses and flying buttresses in the eastern part of the cathedral. It is unlikely that Notre Dame would have been so monumental and impressive if it had not been reliably protected from its most vulnerable and fragile side - from the rear - by such a wonderful garden .... And the more time you spend here, the more you wonder: is it a cathedral built in the middle of the garden ..... either the garden was planted around the cathedral in order to shelter and protect it from all evil spirits and from prying eyes

God's Garden ~ Notre Dame de Paris

God's Garden ~ Notre Dame de Paris

God's Garden ~ Notre Dame de Paris

God's Garden ~ Notre Dame de Paris

God's Garden ~ Notre Dame de Paris

God's Garden ~ Notre Dame de Paris

Original entry and comments on

Cologne Cathedral is the third largest of the churches built in the Gothic style. Mysteriously, its construction stretched for more than six centuries. And while skeptics attribute everything to a lack of money, many are sure that none other than the devil is to blame for the endless construction. Numerous legends of the Cologne Cathedral tell about this.

According to legend, in 1164, the relics of the three Magi were secretly transported from Milan by the Cologne Archbishop Rainald von Dossel. Festivities continued for several days in honor of this significant event. However, soon the place where the relics were kept became a center of pilgrimage for Christians. It was then that the idea was born to build a new, large and spacious cathedral on the site of the old small one. It was decided to install a shrine with relics there and expand the cathedral so that there would be plenty of room for the faithful.

The architect was chosen by the master Gerhard von Riehl, who at that time was studying in France. He was given a year to create a project for a colossal temple. But, despite all the desire of the architect, he could not manage to transfer his ideas to paper. Some mistake was always found, and the drawing had to be redone again. He had already begun to doubt his abilities and even thought about giving up.

One day, the legend tells, while walking along the banks of the Rhine, Gerhard saw a huge stone, and next to it was a man in a construction uniform and furiously drew strange signs. Imagine the architect's surprise when he saw that this was the drawing of the new cathedral. Without thinking twice, Gerhard began to persuade the unknown to sell him the project. He agreed, but warned that in return he would like to receive the soul of the architect. “And if you promise me also the souls of your wife and child, I myself will build a cathedral in three years. If I fail, then you will continue to enjoy life in the human world. But if the cathedral is ready with the first roosters announcing the beginning of the first day in the fourth year, you and your family are mine,” added Satan, and it was he. Gerhard signed all the documents, and the hard days of waiting began.

The architect, of course, was sure that the devil would not have time to build such a grandiose cathedral. But every day his confidence became less and less. Von Riehl became thoughtful and absent-minded. His wife, noticing his dejected state, began to ask what was the matter. Gerhard, openly, told her about everything.

At first, the woman was scared. But then I thought. Soon she managed to find a way to save her family. One morning the woman and her son went to the market. Suddenly, the child, attracted by the street scene, began to pull on her dress and point to the jesters. One of them, exactly repeating the sound of a cock's cry, entertained the crowd. This gave the master's wife a brilliant idea. Every day she began to practice imitating the crowing of a rooster. After some time, she not only managed to imitate one-on-one crowing, but roosters from neighboring houses also began to respond to her cry.

Salvation has been found. Now I had to wait for the appointed day.

The last day of the term was approaching. The woman crept up to the construction site long before dawn. The devil, surrounded by his minions, was setting up the last tower. At that moment, the woman began to crow loudly. From all over, other roosters began to answer her cry.

Realizing that he had lost, Satan in a rage began to destroy the cathedral. But the deal was a deal. The devil did not touch either the architect or his family. The church remained unfinished. And everyone who agreed to continue work on the damned building either died under strange circumstances, or they themselves refused to continue construction.

However, the dilapidated cathedral was an impressive sight. The height of the roof ridge is 61 meters, and with turrets - 157. The length reaches almost 145 meters, and the total area of ​​the Gothic church is about 10,000 square meters.

As for the fate of the architect himself, Gerhard von Riehl, then, according to legend, he, impressed by the first deal, again pledges his soul to the devil. They bet that the devil would be able to bring water from the Eifel to Cologne through underground channels faster than the architect could complete the magnificent cathedral. Gerhard knew what the devil and I had no idea: if you do not make vents in the channel, the water will not run. The architect was sure that he would win the argument again.

However, Satan was more cunning this time. The wife, whom Gerhard informed about the new deal, was simply horrified. But her husband assured her that there was nothing to be afraid of and told her secret. The poor man could not even imagine that the devil is watching his every step and the secret entrusted to his wife is no longer a secret at all.

There are legends that Gerhard was on the roof of the cathedral, when water suddenly began to beat out of the ground, which was carried through an underground channel. Realizing what awaits his soul, the architect rushed down from the high tower. However, the devil was faster. He turned into a huge black dog and intercepted the unfortunate master. Now his soul was doomed to eternal torment in hell...

Cologne Cathedral remained unfinished. Rumor has it that the ghost of a poor architect roams the corridors of the cathedral, frightening the craftsmen and throwing them off the scaffolding. However, rumors are rumors, but eyewitnesses claim that they have seen some kind of white creature near the walls of the old church more than once. Many are sure that this is actually the architect's ghost wandering around the huge walls, as if guarding his unfinished building.